Method of treating roadways



S. E. H'NLEY.

METHOD OF TREATING ROADWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 29, 19 19.

Patented May 25 1920..

UNITED .sT-ATE-s PATENT OFFlCE.

EVERETT FINLEY, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

METHOD TREATING ROADWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Ma 25, 1920.

Application filed October 29, 1919. Serial No. 334,316.

To all whom it may concern," if

Be it known that I, SAM E. FINLEY, re

- siding at Atlanta, county-of Fulton, State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Treating Roadways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it.

appertains to make and use the same. I The invention relates to the application of binding media to road beds having a surface of broken stone, gravel and similar material, which before treatment is liable to be rutted and displaced by the wheels of a vehicle traversing the. same, and to this Tend the new method comprises the application of the broken stone, or the like, t the roadway, working the same to the desired cross section and surface contour, uniformly coating one longitudinal section of the road. surface with a binding medium by lateral application of said medium from a spraying'machine traversing an adjacent section, restoring the surface of the latter section, which has been marred by the passage of the spraying machtine thereover,

and subsequently applying a similar uniform coating of the'binder to the restoredsurface of the latter section by the machlnetraversing the previously treated and finished section, or an adjacent untreated sec-- 'tion.

Suitable mechanism for carrying out the method aforesaid is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which the single figure represents a spraying machine having a-laterally disposed header device applying the binding medium to one longitu dinal section of a roadway while the wheels of the vehicle are traversing an adjacent untreated section of the roadway.

While the invention is applicable to the treating of roadways generally, with oils,

tars and thelike, it affords a particularly eflicacious mode of application of heavy bituminous or asphaltic materials to a broken stone or gravel surfaced roadway to produce what is known as an asphalt macadam surface; the binding medium penetrating the voids or interstices between the solid material of the road bed and serving to bind the same into a homogeneous, resilient, wear resisting way for traflic, which becomes immediately available for 'use after the coated surface has been finished with a top dressing of fine stone screenings,

sand, or the like, with or without a second I or seal coat, of oil or other suitable. medium and a final top dressing of screenings or sand. It is found that the best results in constructing permanent roadways with bivtuminous, asphaltic, and similar materials, are obtained when the binding mater als the road surface will effectively-resist any tendencyto rut or scour off and will be highly resistant to vthe attrition of traflic and the disruptive effects of climatic conditions. 3

Heretofore it has been the general practice to distribute the binding mediumon to a road surface by means of ahorse drawn or power driven vehicle provided with a spraying manifold or distributer located at the rear of the machine so that the weight of the vehicle frequently caused the road surface, consisting of loose or slightly compacted broken stone, or gravel, to rut and to be otherwise marred or displaced, which necessitated the surface to be again brought to grade by suitable working after the binding material had been applied thereto, as otherwise the liquid binding medium would collect in the ruts and depressions from which it would be subsequently picked up by the wheels of traffic, or would tend, to exude or bleed through the surface during the hot summer weather and, what is an even more serious condition, the collecting of the binding medium pools or pockets would prevent the even distribution of such material throughout the road surface and would leave certain portions of the road surface with little or no binding material thereon, so that such unbound sections of the road would'scour out and require re-treatment in very short time. To remedy these conditions it was necessary to immediately re-distribute the ties is more or less unsatisfactory and 'hlghly expensive.

In the treatment of roads with the relatively heavy materials of great stability even this corrective method is inapplicable because when once the binding medium is deposited on the road the treated surface cannot be successfully re-worked and brought back to proper rade by eliminating the ruts and depress ions formed by the wheels of the spraying machine or the hoofs of the horses, as it 1s.

impossible to roll out the ruts or depressions in the road surface produced during the application of the binding medium and after the same has lost the applied heat necessary to bring it to a state of fluidity.

The effect of such ruts and depressions in.

the finished road surface is to permit water to" collect and stand which immediately sets up a disintegrating action and also causes an uneven and unsatisfactory surface for trafiic which would, moreover, cause the vehicle wheels to further break up or disrupt the surface as they ran over the edges of the ruts or depressions.

The present invention is designed to completely overcome these various difficulties and objections and permit the successful application of various grades of binding media, from the lighter treating oils to the heavier and highly stable asphalts and bitumens, without the necessity of re-working the treated roadway, so that the latter, after the application of the bindingmedium, is left as a smooth thoroughly bonded surface of proper cross section and surface contour.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, the machine illustrated therein is of a type described and claimed in my co-pending application filed of even date herewith and involves a motor propelled wheeled vehicle having thereon a tank 10 in which the road treating material is stored under a uniform pressure of air delivered by an air compressor to a series of air storage tanks, of

I which two 50 and 51 are shown, said tanks being appropriately connected to the dome of the tank by a valved pipe, which is provided with a pressure regulator to insure,

uniformity of the air pressure in the tank, and a check valve interposed between the material tank and the pressure regulator to prevent back flow of gases or liquid to the pressure regulator.

Disposed at the rear of the vehicle and movable transversely thereof in yokes 25 is a carrier 26, in which is fixed a supply pipe 21 which is connected at its middle portlon with an outlet pipe from the bottom of the tank 10 by means of a vertical pipe 19 having a valve 20 therein.

- The means for laterally adjusting the carii hand wheel shaft 29, which latter is rotatably mounted in the standard or casing 30 3 mounted upon a bridge piece 81 connecting the yokes 25,.wh1ch are slidably mounted for longitudinal movement on rearwardly extending angle pieces 1 1 attached to the rear of the longitudinal sills of the chassis. The supply pipe 21 is provided with cutoff valves 2a and 24: disposed on each side of the connection of said pipe with the pipe from the tank 10 so that the binding material from the tank may be delivered to either or both sections of said pipe 21 by opening a or closing the appropriate valves 24 and 24 Each end of the supply pipe 21 is provided with a T coupling 22, the outer end of which is suitably stopped with a screw plug and the vertlcal member has a short section of pipe 23 secured thereto.

In the old type of machines heretofore em ployed', the distributer header or manifold would ordinarily have been secured to the pendant pipe sections 23, 23, so that the header would be disposed below and parallel with the supply pipe 21, and, therefore, transversely of the rear of the vehicle, so

that the oil would be distributedby the manifold directly over the path traversed by the wheels of the vehicle, and, therefore, cause the distributed oil to collect in the ruts or depressions formed by the wheels of the vehicle, to the detriment of the road surface as hereinbefore explained.

' In the adaptation of the distributing machine to the application of the method con"- stituting the present invention, instead of disposing the distributer header or manifold transversely of the rear of the machine it is located wholly to one side of the machine and, therefore, out of the line of travel of the wheels of the latter. This is effected, as

illustrated in the drawings, by uncoupling the left hand end of the distributer header or manifold from the corresponding end of the supply pipe 21 and swinging the manifold or header through an angle of 180 degrees on either the T coupling 22 or on the intermediate coupling 43 and then applying an auxiliary pipe section 90 to the right hand T coupling 22 on supply pipe 21 and engaging a short verticalpipe section 92 on the end of auxiliary pipe 90 with the detachable coupling 4% on the upper end of pipe section 12, which latter is connected to the manifold or distributer. outer end of the header or distributer sysstem is supported by a suitable brace or stay ,rod 93, attached at one end to T coupling 91 on the end of auxiliary pipe 90, and

The extreme at the other to a suitable bracket or standard 35 which is secured to the carrier 26, so that the entire header or distributer manifold is rigidly supported by the carrier 26 and is laterally adjustable transversely of the roadway to the full extent of lateral movement of said carrier, thereby permitting the header to be moved laterally to avoid obstacles 0r irregularities in the contour of the road and to prevent over-laps in the road treating material, as well as to avoid untreated spaces of the road surface, as fully set forth in the co-pending application aforesaid. The distributer header '91" manifold preferably consists of two parallel pipe sections having'spray nozzles disposed longitudinally thereof in staggered relation on the two pipes so that the conical sprays delivered in a vertical direction will apply the binding material to the road surface in an even uniform layer. .It will be particularly notedthat the entire distributer system,

or at least the jetting manifold or distribuapproximate surface contour and cross sec.-

ter header or pipe, is disposed entirely out side of the line of travel of the adjacent wheels of the vehicle and that none of the roadvmaterial falls upon the road surface over which the wheels have passed, but all of thebinding material is delivered to the surface of the road wholly lateral of and extraneous to the wheel tracks.

According to the present invention, the roadway is provided with a covering of broken stone, gravel, or other suitable road building solid material, which is worked to tion and then rolled to the ultimate surface desired by suitable road roller. Preferably the whole road surface is thus treated, but, if desired, only that portion of the road surface which is to subsequently receive a coating of the binding medium maybe worked up to proper surface conditions. When this has been effected the machine with the heated road binding medium therein is brought on to the road laterally of the particular longitudinal stretch or section of the road to which application of the binding medium is to be made. As graphically illustrated in the drawing, the wheels of the vehicle, which is usually very heavy, form depressions, tracks, or ruts in the relatively loose ballasting on the road, but the binding medium is delivered to the uniform, unmarred, previously rolled surface of the latv eral section of the road, above which the lat-.

' throughout the material under ideal conditions to produce a uniformly bound road surface without ruts, dgpressions or other irregularities therein. t will be further noted that thecourse of distribution of the i 28 between said shaft and the carrier 26,

which latter supports the" header apparatus. After the prescribed section of roadway has been covered with a uniform coating of the binding material it is finished by applying thereto a layer of stone chips,screenings, sand, onthe like, which serves to absorb the binding material remaining on the surface of the roadway and also to provide the necessary wearing surface and prevent the binding media picking up or adhering to the wheels of traffic or the feet of pedestrians, or, if a second or seal coat of binding medium is desired, the same may be applied in any suitablemanner, either before or after the fine stone or sand has been spread over the first coat, and said seal coat is then covered with stone screenings, sand, or the road which has just been traversed and rut- Y ted up by the wheels of the vehicle. Previous to the application of the binding medium to this rutted section of the road surface, however, the latter has been again reworked with the road roller, or other suitable'means, to take out the wheel ruts and any other irregularities which may have been produced in the surface formed by the broken stone, or the like, so that the previ ously marred section is again brought to proper grade and surface contour. The

machine is then driven along the previously treated road section Y and the binding medium sprayed evenly over the adjacent lateral section X, which had been marred by the wheels of the vehicle and subsequently restored by the road roller, or other suitable apparatus. As the vehicle progresses the material is distributed in an even and uniform layer over the road section X and, by reason of the facility with which the manifold or header may be adjusted, the meeting edges of the previously treated section Y and section X under treatment may be accurately matched without any over-lapping of the sheets of applied material, so that no excess of the treating material will be applied to any portion of the road. This is readily effected by an operator who stands on the rear of the machine at the hand wheel shaft-29 and observes the transverse areas of dispersion of the treating materlal dehv- .ered. from the header or-manifold, and by .in'anipulating the hand wheel adjusts the carrier 26 and the header apparatus transversely of path of travel to cause the adjasections of the road, lying within the range of adjustment of the headen After the section X of the road has received the proper application of binding medium it, in turn, is provided with a coating of stone screenings, sand, or the like, and, if necessary, a seal coat of binding medium with a top dressingof screenings or sand, when it is immediately ready for traflic.

In roads of ordinary width it will be possible to treat the entire surface by traversing the machine longitudinally, first over one-half of the road in one direction, and then over the other half of the road in the opposite direction. If the roadway is too wide to admit of this mode of operation the vehicle will be operated over successive longitudinal sections of a road in order, the second and subsequent applications being effected by the vehicle proper being driven over the previously treated and finished section of the road. a I

It has been found that the method as hereinbefore ,described materially reduces the cost of treating the roadway by a saving of time and material, whatever the character of the binding medium employed may be, and renders the treatment of roadways with heavy or highly stable binding media in an economical manner feasible for the first time and renders it possible to produce an absolutely uniform road surface without the necessity of reworking the same after it hasbeen treated to attempt to eliminate defects which were produced by the machine making the application of the bind-- ing medium thereto.

What I claim is:

1. The method of treating roadways which-comprises applying a uniform coating of binding material to one longitudinal section thereof by means of a traveling vehicle traversing an adjacent section, ap-

plying a top dressing to the coated section,

restoring the surface of the traversed sec viously treated section.

2. The method of treating roadways which comprises building up a surface of broken stone, or the like, working the same to the desired cross section and surface contour,uniformly coating one longitudinal section with a binding medium by lateral application from a traveling vehicle trav ersing an adjacent section, applying a top dressing to the coated section, restoring the surface of the traversed section, and applying a uniform coating of the binder to the restored surface by the vehicle traversing the previously treated section.

3. The method of treating roadways which comprises building up a surface of broken stone, or the like, working the same to the desired cross section and surface contour, traversing a binder distributing vehicle having a laterally disposed spray header over one longitudinal section of the road surface and simultaneously applying a coating of binding material to an adjacent longitudinal section, covering the coated sec tion with stone chips, sand, or the like, reworking the first section marred by-the vehicle to restore the crosssection and surface contour thereof, and applying a coating of binding medium to the restored section by the distributer vehicle traversing the previously treated section or a laterally adjacent untreated section.

4. The method of treating roadways which comprises applying a coating of bind ing material to one longitudinal section thereof by means of a traveling vehicle traversing an adjacent section, restoring the surface of the traversed section where the same has been marred by the vehicle or otherwise, and applying a similar coating of binding material'to the restored section by said vehicle traversing the previouslytreated section after the latter is in condi-- tion for traffic.

SAM EVERETT FINLEY.

Witnesses: Y

C. B. HARMAN, O. J. BoHN. 

